How To Encourage Communication Before Your Child Starts Talking

Key Takeaways

• Babies communicate for about a year before saying a first word, using eye contact, crying, babbling, and gestures.
• Back-and-forth exchanges known as “serve and return” build the brain connections that speech and language development depend on.
• Getting face to face, narrating routines, and pausing to let your baby take a turn are the fastest ways to encourage early communication.
• Gestures such as pointing, waving, and showing objects predict later vocabulary, so they are worth teaching and celebrating.
• If your baby is not babbling, gesturing, or responding to their name around 12 months, ask your pediatrician about a developmental screening and early intervention services.

Your baby has been talking to you since you brought them home. Not with words, but with squeals, sideways glances, raised arms, and that specific cry that means “I am done with this car seat.”

Those early exchanges are the foundation of speech and language development, and you can strengthen them during moments you are already having: diaper changes, meals, bath time, and the walk to the car.

Know What Early Communication Looks Like

Prelinguistic communication is everything a child does to connect before words arrive. Around 4 to 6 months, babies experiment with sounds. By 9 months, many string sounds together, lift their arms to be picked up, and look up when you say their name. By their first birthday, most babies point, wave, and try to copy the sounds you make, according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

Watch especially for joint attention: the moment your baby looks at a dog, then looks at you, then looks back at the dog. That small triangle is your child saying, “Are you seeing this?”

Return the Serve

Harvard University’s Center on the Developing Child describes responsive caregiving as serve and return: A baby babbles, gestures, or cries, and an adult answers with eye contact, words, or a hug, strengthening neural connections in the process.

The steps are simple:

• Notice what your child is focused on and share that focus.
• Respond warmly, with a smile, a sound, or a touch.
• Name what they are looking at or doing.
• Take turns, then wait for the next serve.
• Follow their lead when they are ready to move on.

Get Face to Face, and Narrate

Babies learn words by watching your mouth and reading your face, so drop to eye level whenever you can. Then talk your way through the day: “I’m washing the apple. Cold water. Here comes the apple.”

Use short phrases, repeat them often, and speak whatever language feels most natural to you. Warm, fluent input is the important part.

Pause Longer Than Feels Comfortable

Adults fill silence fast. Ask a question or make a playful sound, then wait 5 to 10 seconds with a look of expectation on your face. Many babies need that runway to organize a response. When one comes, imitate it and add a word.

Treat Gestures as Words

Pointing, clapping, waving, and reaching are real communication, and children who gesture early tend to build vocabulary faster. Model gestures constantly, and pair simple signs such as “more,” “all done,” and “milk” with the spoken word. Books and songs help, too, because the same lines come back again and again.

Build Reasons To Communicate Into Daily Life

If everything appears before your child asks, there is nothing to ask for. Try gentle, playful setups instead:

• Offer two choices and hold them up: “Banana or cracker?”
• Put a favorite toy in a clear container with a lid on tight.
• Blow bubbles, then stop and wait for a request.

When To Ask About a Speech Delay

Trust your instincts. Talk with your pediatrician if your baby is not babbling, using gestures, or responding to their name by 12 months, or has lost a skill they once had. Experts recommend developmental screening at 9, 18, and 30 months, and urge families not to wait when something feels off.

Early Intervention Services at BARC Developmental Services

Support is available long before a first word. BARC Developmental Services provides home- and community-based early intervention for infants and toddlers from birth to age 3 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, including speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, and special instruction.

BARC uses a coaching model built around your family’s own routines, so the strategies you learn fit the way you already live. To ask a question or start a referral, call BARC’s Early Intervention Department at 215-794-0800.

Located in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, BARC Developmental Services assists and supports individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism. We equip them to reach their fullest potential, lead happy lives, and contribute to their community. With early intervention services, residential programs, and vocational initiatives, we serve hundreds of individuals and aim to help many more. Donate today to make an impactful change in the lives of individuals with intellectual disabilities and autism!